For when you don't have a book on you at the time, or don't have the right book even, having a little section in the score screen that lists the current damage caused by the wielded weapon (code and number) or unarmed if no weapon is being wielded.

And also by your hands. With updates from Adept abilities etc.
Like turning on Killing Hands or something of the like. This could also be useful because of the sheer amount of weapons that are restrung, it makes it easier for an imm who is GMing a fight scene to make sure players are being fair and correct in the fight.

ie. Bob has a laser axe and gets an idea for a similar weapon and decides to restring it (Lets say to a scythe or something) and then enters a fight with Bill.

Bill has a dikote axe that isn't restrung and uses that. Bill whips out his scythe and knows he's boned because of the weapon Bill is using. So he goes 'Yeah, this is also a dikote axe restring >.>' and uses the scythe. Immy McImmy doesn't know otherwise and doesn't bother to check and rolls out the fight. When it comes to damage, it's the same for both of them because of their weapons, or so Immy thinks.

With this in place he can jump into Bob and check his score sheet and go 'Ohdamnson, you ain't usin' no damn dikote axe, you lying varmint' and use the correct damage code.

Same sort of situation, but for those of us without books and access to good copies, or for weapons in game that don't have any traits in books, it shows it up for them to see. It's also good in deciding which weapon to use.

When I first started and questioned weapon damage, I got the advice 'Try them both and see'

I did. They seemed pretty equal to me because they both did great damage. But then later I found out that one was better than the other and lo and behold I could do more damage overall. For people new to the MUD who have no idea about SR3 it could greatly benefit. Especially if no one is around at the time (like late night/early morning US time)

Nice idea Drace.

-- Bad Alex

-----signature-----"Just because you can put the kittens in the oven, doesn't make them biscuits."

The ammo change so far is great but I haven't managed to combine ammo boxes so far yet. I might be doing something wrong but if I'm not this would be very helpful, both for players and reducing item count. It'd also be great if bought boxes would be ready combined like with deck chips and parts, that way you can buy a box with 300 rounds rather than 3 boxes of 100. If you want to have a maximum capacity for boxes for the sake of realism that's fine too but 100 isn't much when you're using full auto.

The boxes also don't disappear when emptied, it'd be great if they could be automatically discarded when fully used.

As far as I can tell there is no use for empty containers of ammo. Even if you can combine them there is no point to combining an empty ammo container with another container, it has no advantage over just junking it.

Corps in Shadowrun are huge and powerful and scare the crap out of even the most experienced runner.

Corps in AW sit there and are good farms and places for autoruns.

Really, they don't have as much bearing as they really should have.

Now, GM's have lives of their own, aside from Yojimbo, who is not alive but exists in a form outside of our understanding. But he still has stuff to do. So we can't rely on them to make the corps as big and as scary as we would like to. Nor can we expect them to do runs with the same people to build up how powerful the corps really are.

So, why not leave some of it to the players? Because players are all a bunch of retards who step in and make a fuss, then run around and go 'I AM MITSUHAMA ROFLWAFFLECOPTERLOL'. And then get killed multiple times and then leave.

So, why not give them some code to help them out?

Here's my idea:

Make apartments in corp buildings. Or just be able to buy a 'tag' from them that makes you part of the company.

Say Player X wants to make a corp blackops character called Bob. He does so, gears him up and gets ready to rock and roll.

Bob goes into a corp, we'll use Mitsuhama as an example, and rents an apartment. In doing so, it means he can get to the most restricted areas of Mitsuhama without being shot to goo by security.

Also inside Mitsuhama is a store that Bob can now access because he is part of the company. It has cyber/bioware, and a few items that are very much the same as other items, but have a different thing to them. Like... A gun, that is in fact a Predator II, even though it says it's a Mitsuhama Samurai 3, and it may have a bigger clip. Or different attachments. Either way, unfortunately for Bob, he can't drop the item or sell it to anywhere but back to the store he bought it from.

So now that Bob is kitted up in his armour and has his Mitsuhama Samurai 3, he decides that he wants to go join Aztech, because they're so much cooler and have a better dental policy. So Bob wanders over to Aztech and is like 'Yo. Rent a room from you pimps?' and they're like 'HELLZ YEAH!' and give him a room. In doing so, though, Bob has now earned himself a Blacklisted tag from Mitsuhama, meaning he can't get back into the corp. He can't buy more bullets for his Mitsuhama Samurai 3 and his recliner with his butt-groves is now lost to the Mitsuhama Second Hand Store.

This blacklisting may last for as long as the imms choose, or, in my idea, for as long as he pays rent at Aztech. If he no longer pays rent, he can go pay rent at Mitsuhama again, buy bullets and be happy.

Now, Bob has done exactly that.

He's kitted up, rented a room from Mitsuhama, left Mitsuhama for Aztech, but then decided that, because Aztech's dental policy does not apply to his daughter and Lisa Needs Braces, he returns to Mitsuhama where the dental plan is worse, but it means Lisa Gets Braces. Now Bob goes upstairs to put his claim in for Lisa's braces and gets told it will be a 30 working day turn around to process his claim. He gets angry and pops the guy in the face with his new bullets in his Mitsuhama Samurai 3. Suddenly he's no longer part of the corp. He can't get into his apartment and the security, when they catch him, are going to shoot the crap out of him. Bob is caught by Mitsuhama security and shot to goo and is blacklisted. He cannot get back into the corp for a month.

In short:

Make apartments in corps so people can rent them.

If they rent them, they are privy to areas that others are not, including shops that others cannot access.

If they go rent with another corp, they are blacklisted from the old corp for as long as they are paying rent at the new corp.

If they kill a mob/another person tagged with the corp tag, they are blacklisted from the building. If it is inside the building, they are simply shot to goo.

It also means they cannot recover their gear. Sucks to be them, they shouldn't have gone farming in their own corp.

The End.

Poke holes in it, flip it on it's head and see what comes out.

Cheers,

-- Bad Alex

-----signature-----"Just because you can put the kittens in the oven, doesn't make them biscuits."

Date Posted:Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:33 amSubject:Giving New Life to Hacking and the Matrix

Alright, so I know this thread is dead or dying, I don't know why. 17 pages is a lot of ideas to look through, and I can't in good conscience say that I did read all the ideas but I thought I'd still add my own anyways. Besides, it's a sticky, it's meant to stay in the loop.

{Begin TL/DR mod convincing statement here}

Decker. What comes to mind when you think of that word?
Well, due to restrictions in that they have to choose either a samurai build or live life as a failed experiment because they can't kill or do the harder auto-runs.
So then that just makes them inept, inadequate even. The thing Deckers are made to do is surf the Matrix. And even that isn't as powerful as one would expect. Sure, it's pretty impressive as it is, but all Matrix are paydata farms. There's no other use for terminals except to make a quick buck spamming the same search and download commands.

In my honest opinion that makes Deckers, one of the most unique classes to Shadowrun rather underwhelming. I'm no coder, so I'm not going to pretend any of the following suggestion would be easy to do, nor will I expect them to happen over night if they get mixed into the plans at all. I've tried coding and it's beyond me, so I can only imagine how monstrous the suggestions will be to someone who understands code and knows how much work it would take to implement such things.

{End TL/DR, begin ideas}

Deckers have little to no interaction with other players sometimes due to their profession. They spend hours jacked into the matrix to farm paydata for money to upgrade their decks to farm paydata. A few potential suggestions to fix the anti-social crisis...

Holographic Projection:
Deckers in certain Matrix have access to security cameras located in various parts of cities that allow them to project their Icon into real life, but with no physical body to them. Rather than moving room to room they move from camera to camera, giving them an advantage of speed and allowing them to monitor a wide range of areas, but adding holes to their vision so that they can't see what's going on in that unmarked alley or up on that rooftop. Not all cameras may be connected to all terminals, maybe some terminals give direct access to only one camera. Etc, etc, on and on. The potential for this is great but the coding and preparation for it would probably be the most difficult.

Corporate Espionage:
Deckers rule the Matrix, Riggers rule the road. The biggest difference here is that only Deckers access the Matrix, while everyone uses the road. Giving Deckers some incentive to pull their heads out of the matrix every once in a while would be a wonderful thing. Maybe they don't have to be skilled with heavy guns on robotic dogs, but small, useful things like spider scouts and being able to access droids for access codes would make them much more useful outside the Matrix on runs of all sorts.

Matrix:
Probably one of the biggest things that could be changed is the Matrix itself. Right now the Matrix has one goal and no effect on anything outside the Matrix except the wealth of the Decker. Making areas where the Matrix has a noticeable effect on the environment would add new layers and maybe even new respect to the already complex and unique system that is Decking.

General Hacking:
Anything that covers accessing something you shouldn't within a computer could easily be labeled hacking, and in the end most hacking is done to access data that will get a hacker paid. This is true, and obvious, in OUR day and age. But why can't it have more uses in the future? Adding more things that Deckers can hack and influence would improve Decker appeal without necessarily tipping any combat balance scales.

{end idea rant, begin closing}

In conclusion, I guess I'm saying that as things are Deckers aren't good enough just being Deckers, and I guess I have a lot of ideas on how I would want to fix that, even if my ideas aren't great. If you've read this far you have my thanks. Hopefully you'll have liked or disliked the ideas enough to formulate a response, I enjoy criticism because it helps me improve my ideas and I enjoy compliments because... well, who doesn't enjoy compliments? I'll check this thread regularly in hopes of a response, and also this is my first post, so hello everyone!

Frankly, I, sir, am insulted. Deckers may be limited in code, but RP is everything.

Decking for only paydata, being what code limits them to, is like autorun cycles. We all know that you can do many, many things more than "go here, kill this, come back, get paid", but that's code. The real place for your character to shine is in RP. Immruns, pruns, general RP (Remember, people, you CAN leave the bars/clubs/apartments to RP) is where deckers shine. So what if when you're playing alone, all you can do is farm paydata? Go find someone to RP with.

I wasn't going for insulting I was going for honest. I guess I didn't do that too well though. And I agree with you, RP is great, but there's only so much you can do from an RP standpoint if the code isn't backing you up at least a little. As it is none of the suggestions I made can truly be RPed for Deckers right now anyways and while I would love to see some RP, mechanics like this could be key to starting up new RP for deckers to begin with.

And during Immruns, Pruns and general RP, you don't use anything in code, anyway. Here's my point:

Decking in code is meant as a cool little distraction between real RP, where you just so happen to be able to make money, too.

Granted, I'd love to see some new cool things you can do in the matrix, so I agree with you, I just don't see it as bad as you seem to see it. Deckers and Decking are what got me into Shadowrun back in the '90s in the first place, so I feel you, I really do, but I'm happy the way it is. Not ecstatic, mind you, but I mean, we have a pretty sweet matrix system, you have to admit.

1) I read a few pages of the suggestions and did not see one that I would think would be obvious! Add alpha grade cyberware to chargen. It is permitted by cannon rules as I recall.

2) I know enough about coding to know this would be a major overhaul but what if a player could add flags, like combat decking magic rigger recon courier, and have the auto-runs give jobs based on what flags the player has up. A job that required the player to assess someone in town and come back with the info could only be done if you have the magic flag up or better yet go banish a free spirit, or recording a bad cop get his take from a local tough could only happen if you had recon flagged. A rigger might have to escort a person from say the moonlight mall (pick up there) to one of the banks in the mud, and get ambushed along the way. Deckers would need to logon to a host and download a file with a specific name (could code that to be random also from a list of nodes in the game) Ect ect

3) rare load mobs or events like some sim starlet that every now and then might walk around dante's with a glob of fans pestering and emoting stuff. Or say an Aztech magical apprentice with some muscle for protection that once every couple game days goes to moonlight mall walks about and then gets in a car and leaves, the lucky runner who happens to be shopping and see him gets a chance to geek em and get his bag of goodies, not super good stuff but say a couple disposable fetishes or some conjuring materials. The mobs would load in a set room and wander a set path at a set speed and then disappear. Could link that into a bounty system, a couple mobs spread out through the game that when asked will say who they are offering cash for a confirmed departure.

4) Could give some mobs a grouped with flag, say the two security guards in front of a building, or if two of the same type of ganger are in the same room. The purpose being it would allow an area affect spell to be used on them, hit one and it hits the other, this would keep it from just hitting everything in the room, which would make area affect spells or grenades useful but not a "enter room, kill all, loot all, next room" type of game play.

5) Automated messages from NPC contacts to your cell phone, could tie in the rare load mobs for this, or rare load nodes for a matrix contact, phone call "Heads up the smith and lacky law office will be connected to the LTG for the next few hours for a data dump, then go back to a closed node, thought you might want to know" Or you could call and your contact could say who is currently looking to hire and might have a use for you, I like this one since it could cut down on looking all over the mud for that J who has a job at your rep.

OK thats enough for now but I have more where that came from!

Pint

3)

-----signature-----O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

Saraphae is simply wrong about decker limitations. there is substantially more to the matrix than spamming the same search commands and making a quick buck. that would probably constitute about 1/3 or 1/4 of what you can do in the matrix.
while I have never encounted functioning slave nodes that doesn't mean they don't exist. slave nodes would cover his camera and droid ideas. the matrix does have observable effects on the meatbod world.
Do I want more implementation of the nonpaydata stuff in the matrix? yes. do i want more matrix options implemented? yes. but i also want more social commands implemented and just about everything else.

as for Pint's suggestions try playing the game, apart from the flags to limit which runs you get all but the assense run proposed and area effect combat spells is implemented and has been for years though perhaps not in a manner to your liking.

Well Daedalus's post made me think perhaps I had not explained a couple of the ideas thoroughly and some of the reply carried a tone that needed a dress down as well.

Daedalus wrote:

as for Pint's suggestions try playing the game...

Try and assume I have.

Daedalus wrote:

apart from the flags to limit which runs you get all....

The idea draws some of the other players suggestions into a way to resolve those issues, it would broaden what an imm could code as an autorun, would give characters with a specialized skill set a way to use them for autoruns while not being offered things that have nothing to do with the character concept, for an in game example I had a shaman char that I played for a couple months here a long while ago and I thought it was odd that I would get offered the decker autorun (I only remember one such autorun) telling the johnson "Do you see a datajack on my pretty mug" didn't contain the keyword for turning the run down.

In the same token a decker character who walks up to a johnson with a hack the planet t-shirt getting offered to a run that is street sam stuff was an immersion disconnect. It would seem reasonable that the reason there (this might have changed I think the last time I had a char here with over 50ish TKE was 2005) was only one autorun that required matrix skills/gear is that only a portion of the players could partake. In other words if a johnson offered a matrix job to just anyone it becomes a hassle for players who don't deal in that, but getting offered a matrix run if you are a decker would be a good thing, this would make that possible. As I said first though it is an overhaul to the autorun concept, but would be a two birds with one stone, deckers get to mostly deck and autoruns could be broadened and made more specific to the player. Making the flags be controlled by the player would make it easier to implement.

Daedalus wrote:

and area effect combat spells is implemented and has been for years though perhaps not in a manner to your liking.

Most of play time was just before and after the change to room damaging affects, so my suggestion is targeted at why they were changed, to which I agreed with, it was annoying when a mage would farm cred sticks at a rate faster then they could be cracked by manaballing the mud for an hour, the unintentional Pkill was a concern as well as I remember. So the suggestion was aimed at limiting, again I think it was a wise move, the spammable room affects but still bringing them back into tactical use for runs involving mobs, either auto or imm controlled.

Now if area affect spells are back in, my suggestion would stand on its merit, if it is still only useable as a NERP then my suggestion would stand, if it is currently implemented in some way to make it useful but limited in a way that addresses the original concerns that took them out then great and I would be happy for it!

As too it "being to my liking" by definition a suggestion or idea that's aim is to improve or refine the mud has its base on it not being to the posters liking. The mud would not of evolved and moved in a good direction as it has over the years if "what its not to your liking?" was an idea killer as your condescending post suggested it was.

-----signature-----O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

The idea draws some of the other players suggestions into a way to resolve those issues, it would broaden what an imm could code as an autorun, would give characters with a specialized skill set a way to use them for autoruns while not being offered things that have nothing to do with the character concept, for an in game example I had a shaman char that I played for a couple months here a long while ago and I thought it was odd that I would get offered the decker autorun (I only remember one such autorun) telling the johnson "Do you see a datajack on my pretty mug" didn't contain the keyword for turning the run down.

In the same token a decker character who walks up to a johnson with a hack the planet t-shirt getting offered to a run that is street sam stuff was an immersion disconnect. It would seem reasonable that the reason there (this might have changed I think the last time I had a char here with over 50ish TKE was 2005) was only one autorun that required matrix skills/gear is that only a portion of the players could partake. In other words if a johnson offered a matrix job to just anyone it becomes a hassle for players who don't deal in that, but getting offered a matrix run if you are a decker would be a good thing, this would make that possible. As I said first though it is an overhaul to the autorun concept, but would be a two birds with one stone, deckers get to mostly deck and autoruns could be broadened and made more specific to the player. Making the flags be controlled by the player would make it easier to implement.

Instead of having player-selected flags, why not have certain autoruns have certain skill or stat minimums? A decking run might, for instance, require that you have a 6 in Computers, while a combat run might require that you have some sort of combat skill and at least 2 in every physical attribute. A check could also be added that would only give the run to a player with a datajack. For players who don't want to have their runs filtered, there could be a command such as 'toggle runfilter' that would give them the current non-character-specific run set.

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